Sunday, 11 May 2014

Holyland Bikepacking Challenge - Part 1, Finding our way in the Holyland.

Toward the end of 2013
I heard about a new bikepacking event, a 1300km self supported race across
Israel … the Holyland Bikepacking Challenge.

I was instantly drawn
… the flights looked reasonable and putting aside that I had never managed to
finish a self supported race I was keen to get involved.

The logistics are
always a huge issue when travelling to race away from home but in this instance
the organisers were arranging local support… what was not to like about this
event!

So as the months
passed and the event got closer I still hadn’t booked my flight as life and
other projects were getting in the way of sitting down and properly planning
the trip.

With only a little
over a month to go I got a wake up email from Zohar Kantor, part of the
organisation and Israel’s top bikepacker, just checking in the make sure I was still going … I hadn’t
planned a single thing so some emergency planning was needed and I was going to
need some help in doing so.

Zohar put me in touch
with Gordon Active(www.gordonactive.com), a specialist tour company based in
Tel Aviv.Gordon Active went to
work and quickly found me the required flights and provided all the usual
required travel information to save me trawling the internet.With Gordon Active taking care of
travel I could start looking at my bikepacking gear.

As it had been a while
since I had spent a night out everything needed a review for its suitability
for the trip and Alpkit.com were needed to manufacture some last minute kit
ideas to make sure my set up on the Salsa El Mariachi was not only as light as
I had time to make it but also durable.

The packed bike was
the lightest set up I had ever put together partly aided by knowledge of Israel’s
favourable climate at that time of year.

With gear packed in
Alpkit bags, Halo tyres fitted and a K Lite dynamo set up all of my tried and
tested reliable brands were represented across the bike in some part or other
so that gave me some peace of mind.

The set up had had
little test time, well it had had none, but as I knew Zohar was riding a new
frame only built up a few days prior to the event there was no stress
associated with my lack of preparation.After all I would have 1300km of riding to refine my set up.

The travel
arrangements saw me land in Israel right at the start of the religious time of
Passover, most importantly to me anyway it meant I would be treat to a large
family meal with the whole Kantor family.You can never eat enough pre event especially as food during the ride
would be so sporadic.

The days prior to
travelling north to the start were spent at Zohar’s house near the beach in
Habonim.A perfect setting to
prepare the bikes and adjust mentally to the task at hand, not to mention being
well fed again every day.It was
also a great chance to meet and get to know American Max Morris who had made
the very long journey to come to the event those his sleeping system definitely
did not attract any excess baggage charge ;).

The day before the
start we travelled northward and upward as all the riders packed in to a coach
and were driven to the mountainous area known as the Golan Heights to the town
of Majdal.

The night before a big
event is usually spent wracked with nerves as last minute adjustments are made
to the bikes and kit is unpacked and repacked more than anything just to occupy
the mind and divert attention from whatever massive undertaking the next day
will bring.This night before
though was spent as a group gorging ourselves on amazing local cuisine as we
ate our final pre race supper.

The meal was all too
quickly over and some sleep and a quick breakfast saw us already rolling out on
the course, within a few kilometres a selection seemed to have been made as 3
riders headed off at what seemed like day race pace.My game was somewhat longer focussing more on the finish
than the finish line position.

When you picture
Israel not having been your thoughts conjure a picture of a dry arid landscape
trails made from rock and sand.However, we were riding through meadows of wild flowers, descending
beautiful singletrack track and climbing amongst trees.The riding was a far departure from the
expected though we had been told that the route would bring huge diversity on
all fronts.

So early in to the
event the riders were still comparatively close so we were constantly riding
with new people.Exchanges of each
others expectations for the days ahead and probing questions in to the level of
preparation that had been undertaken in the previous months took place.

Day one would be the
one and only day I would ride with my Israel host Zohar, after a few hours we
drifted apart as Zohar focussed and progressed leaving Team UK, Myself, Ricky
Spring and James Olsen, to craft our own journey.

As we rode we were all
too often reminded of our proximity to Syria with the sound of distant
artillery fire and the passing of abandoned UN posts.Only some barbed wire fencing and a steep sided valley
separated the countries.

Late in the day we
caught our first glimpse of the Sea of Galilee, a huge body of freshwater that
we would see from more than one side before the trail would send us southwest
to Tel Aviv.Looking out from our
viewpoint we were optimistic in our estimations about how long and difficult
the navigating around this north shore of the sea would be, we were quickly given
some indication as a fast descent followed by an undulating trail led us to a
long road climb in darkness.

We soon decided after
this climb to call it a day at around 11pm and our first night would be spent sleeping
on the town football pitch.

The following day saw
us caught up in a 100 mile mtb race that was winding its way around the Sea of
Galilee, even after only a day on our laden machines watching guys riding
unencumbered bag free bikes looked very appealing.As the day wore on the temperature in the ‘oven’ was being
turned up and a midday stop next to a river to splash some cool water over us
before yet another long climb was appreciated.

The route saw us head
north from the Sea of Galilee and take in a large loop before we could again
return and begin the climb of Mt Meron, the highest point on the route.The climb took us 4 hours and we
finally reached the top as it was getting dark.The descent took nearly as long as darkness slowed progress
to then be followed by rolling hills before we could again get down to the
shore of the Sea and find another bivi spot this time in the corner of a
farmers field.

On the morning of day
3 already a routine had started to build in regards to packing the bike back up
… from sleeping to moving in under 30 minutes, not exactly formula 1 pit stop
standards but acceptable.

Our previous days
descent had left us with a leg warming climb to start the day.Checking in with home the night before
Grace had revealed that we had stayed in a hot spot of HLC riders with 6 or 7
of us within a few kilometres.It
was no surprise then that early in the morning we could see a rider in the distance
and soon after catching them we came upon another 2 though this time stopped
next to a parked up car.

As it turns out the
German rider Ingo had broken his mech hanger on day 2 so had limped on with a
makeshift singlespeed until his wife’s family could source another bike for him
to continue on with.

We set off as a group
of 6 but after James had some tyre issues we were back to just the 3 of us.

Later that day we
would meet Ingo’s family again at a bike store on the route where Ingo had
taken another bike as his previous loaner was ill fitting.After numerous issues with the other
guys tubeless set up we took this bike shop opportunity to stock up on sealant
filled inner tubes, heavy but reliable.

Then we left the shop
to ride another fantastic section of singletrack trail.

Day 3 was a stand out
day not only in the event but I think also in my life, a single day I will
remember for my remaining years and for one very special event that took place.

Late in the afternoon
we had just pushed out of a valley up to a roadside car park, the scene was one
of rubbish having been dumped but amongst the bags of building waste and dumped
wood came a little growl.Under a
bush a small puppy was concealed out of sight, his bed made from a sack he was
sat on with a number of makeshift water bowls near him but all dry.

The little fella had
lost a lot of hair but was so optimistically happy soon coming out to see what
we were up to.There was no sign
of any owner and his condition indicated he had been here for a while.

We offered him up some
water and then looked in our bags to see what we had to offer him, I think I
knew that we couldn’t leave him here and that in stopping we had made a
commitment to him to make sure his life didn’t end as a dumped piece of rubbish.

A call to Zohar’s home
was made though no local rescue could be found to take him, our only option was
for me to carry him to the next village and hope that there would be someone
there that could help us out.Using James’s packable rucksack I slung him on my front and as Ricky and
James rode up the trail to check out the next village me and ‘Dusty’ enjoyed a
gentle roll through the valley as I discussed with him what was going to
happen.

On arriving at the
village several options had been found including a dog boarding kennel though
they were unable to help.All
hopes were pinned on a Kibbutz near the village.At the heart of any Kibbutz is a sense of community living,
a collection of good people helping each other out.My hopes were high and I wasn’t disappointed.

I randomly stopped a
couple with some kids in the Kibbutz and this was a turning point in Dusty’s
life as these people were not only kind enough to help but knew people who rescued
dogs !!I was literally overjoyed
and leaving some money for Dusty I could continue on safe in the knowledge that
his little life had been saved and he would go to a good home.

After our dog rescuing
efforts we were shown another great example of Israeli hospitality as a local
guy had spotted James and Ricky in the village centre and invited us all for
coffee, which was excellent.

We pushed Mt Karmel’s
switchbacked steep climb in the dark to finally end our day in a clearing on
the descent .after 20 minutes of frustrating navigation trying to find a small
track that the darkness and dense vegetation just wouldn’t reveal.